[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the series finale of Modern Family.]
Just as fans had to say goodbye to the Dunphy-Pritchetts, the family had to say goodbye to each other in the one-hour series finale of Modern Family.
By the end of it, many were moving on (or at least out). Phil and Claire were planning a road trip in the RV. Alex was heading off to Switzerland for a job opportunity. Haley, Dylan, and the twins were moving into a new place. Luke was going to college. Mitch and Cam had moved their family to a new place, only for Cam to get his dream job, so they were leaving again (eventually, after some delays). Jay learned Spanish for Gloria and was going to Colombia with her for the summer. But there was a porch light left on at the end because people would always come home.
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On the day of the series finale, the cast paid tribute to the show, its fans, and each other on social media with heartfelt messages, sharing behind-the-scenes photos and screenshots of their Zoom chat for the event. “Thank you to my fake family,” Julie Bowen wrote alongside the latter. “I love you.”
Several members of the cast posted a series of photos of everyone over the years alongside their farewells. Sofia Vergara shared love for her on and off-screen family, while Sarah Hyland and Ariel Winter penned long messages in the captions alongside theirs.
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. To put it in Bachelor terms, I’ve had an incredible journey with this show,” Hyland wrote. “Our cast and crew were always phenomenal and we very quickly grew to be a real life #modernfamily I will miss these people tremendously but am so grateful I was lucky enough to work with them.”
“We are all so grateful for the love we’ve received over the course of this 11 year journey. To know our fans love our family just as much as we do is the most amazing gift,” Winter shared before paying tribute to the series’ crew. “They are a HUGE, insanely important part of our Modern Family. Even though you only see us on your screens, we have just as wonderful people working behind the camera that I will miss seeing all the time.”
“Just like that, it’s over. 11 years of my life spent with these beautiful souls. You all have played such a huge part in the forming of my being. I will never forget. I’m definitely gonna miss this,” Jesse Tyler Ferguson wrote alongside a photo of his onscreen family. “To the fans, Thank you for standing with us through it all. We owe it all to you.”
Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, and Rico Rodriguez all looked back on the beginning of the show as well, sharing photos from the early days and joining the cast.
Several of the cast also shared emotional messages for their costars, including an overhead view of the family hugging (as seen in Stonestreet’s post). It’s a comedy, but much like the end of the series, many tears were shed.
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